About

SPINELESS WONDERS is a multi-platform publishing company devoted to short, quality fiction produced by Australian writers. We’re interested in brief fiction in all its forms – from short short stories to novella. We also publish ‘microlit’, a unique blend of microfiction and prose poetry.

Acknowledgement of Country

Spineless Wonders is based on the stolen land of the Gadigal-Wangal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to elders, past and present. We acknowledge this land was never ceded, sold, or given up and extend warmth and solidarity to all First Nations people. Always was and always will be Aboriginal land. #IndigenousLivesMatter

Our History

Founded by Bronwyn Mehan in 2011, Spineless Wonders has expanded from a print, digital and audio publishing house to a short story production company working collaboratively with authors and artists across many disciplines to get short fiction out into the world – everywhere.

Publications

SPINELESS WONDERS continues to publish single-author collections and anthologies in print and ebook format. Each year we host literary awards named after two outstanding Australian women writers, Carmel Bird and joanne burns and we offer Slinkies, a platform set up exclusively for emerging writers under 30. Thanks to our partnership with the Newcastle Writers Festival, we are able to continue to offer cash prizes and publication for The joanne burns Microlit Award. And thanks to the support of Copyright Australia’s Cultural Fund, the new Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award allows us to offer cash prizes and publication annually to three authors of short story collections.

Performed Fiction

Since 2014, we have produced LITTLE FICTIONS (formerly known as Spineless Wonders Presents… a short evening of tall stories). LITTLE FICTIONS is a unique literary event where short stories are read by actors to a live audience. For event details see our Little Fictions tab on this website and follow us on Facebook. In 2017, we were invited by the City of Sydney to produce a series of Little Fictions shows for their Late Night Library program. The City of Sydney’s funding allowed us to create OFF THE PAGE, a new and exciting multi-media platform for performed short fiction, now part of Little Fictions Productions.

Storybombing

In 2016, we formed an interdisciplinary artists’ collective called #STORYBOMBING. Its aim is to work with others to find innovative ways to activate public spaces with short Australian fiction curated and produced by SPINELESS WONDERS. Think stories spraypainted onto pavements, in retro pushbutton phones, projected onto buildings… You can find out what we’ve been up to, what is coming up next and how you can get involved, under the #storybombing tab.

Microflix

In 2018, we established the Microflix Awards and Festival. It aims to encourage more Australian filmmakers to use work by Australian authors, to reward excellence and creativity in film adaptations and to champion the importance of the writer, and the original text, in the filmmaking process.

Our partners

We gratefully acknowledge the support given to our programs by The Australia Council, the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund, the City of Sydney, Newcastle Writers Festival, the National Young Writers Festival, the Surry Hills Festival, Inner West Council, Sydney Writers Festival and Deakin University.

We are very proud to work collaboratively with the University of Technology, Sydney (Media Arts and Production and Music and Sound Production), The Sydney Conservatorium of Music, The Sate Library of Victoria, University of Sydney (Media and Communications), University of Southern Queensland (Digital Publishing studies), Knox Street Bar, 107 Projects and Joynton Ave Creative Centre.

How to submit:

At Spineless Wonders are interested in all kinds of stories – contemporary realist, black comedy, steam punk, historical, literary, romance, psychological, mystery, crime, futurist, speculative and genres yet to be labelled. We are interested in new writing and new voices.

For details on The Carmel Bird Short Fiction Award and The joanne burns Microlit Award, go to the Opportunities tab. You will also find information there about our Slinkies platform, a place where we support and promote the work of emerging writers under 30.

We conduct regular call-outs for contributions to our Little Fictions shows and also for video-makers and composers interested in contributing to our multi-media Off The Page productions. See Opportunities tab for details.

Interns:

SPINELESS WONDERS offers supervised internship and work experience projects to people as part of their tertiary studies and to those seeking experience with a literary production house. Inquiries can be directed to info[at]shortaustralianstories.com.au

Catalogues

How to order

Here at Spineless Wonders, we love bookshops – especially ones who champion quality short Australian fiction. So we encourage readers to purchase our print books from a local store.

But if that’s not possible, you can browse our Products page and order directly from our website using Paypal or a credit card. We can take orders from, and deliver to, just about anywhere in the world!